Drew hit .253/.333/.443 with 13 home runs for the Red Sox last year and has a career .764 OPS. He could stay in Boston, though with the ability to play Xander Bogaerts at shortstop and Will Middlebrooks at third base, the Red Sox are not going to go bonkers on a contract to re-sign Drew.

The Yankees, despite going over the $189 million luxury tax threshold with the Tanaka signing, also do not appear headed for bonkers country, as sources tell Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that baseball’s richest team is near its spending limit. While that is perplexing considering that the Yankees are the Yankees, it lines up with the general trend of reporting that while New York would be well served by big spending to follow Tanaka, it’s probably not going to happen.

Vaccaro’s suggestion of the Mets is backed up with sound logic, but even if they add Drew, it’s unlikely that the Mets are a playoff team in 2014. It’s not as if Drew is so great that it’s a choice between adding him now or being stuck with Ruben Tejada forever. A better plan is to stick with Tejada for one more chance this year, and if he still shows no signs of living up to his potential, then hitting the market next winter. Hanley Ramirez would be worth breaking the bank to sign, while Asdrubal Cabrera would be a solid fallback option – not dissimilar from Drew, in fact, but a couple of years younger.

There is no perfect fit here for Drew. In Boston, Bogaerts is set to push him off his natural position. In the Bronx, Derek Jeter’s presence would mean Drew having to shuffle around the infield when the future Hall of Famer is healthy. In Queens, Drew would be giving up the chance to play for a win-now club in order to maybe get a crack at another World Series next year. Of those options, the Yankees are probably the most preferable, but then it comes back to the question of whether the money is there – still a bizarre question to ask about the Yankees, and one that has to make you think that they’re making a show of fiscal restraint just so the world doesn’t get the idea that the vault is open.

BLUE JAYS: So, you’re in a division with the defending world champion Red Sox, the wild card-winning Rays and the retooled Yankees, not to mention the Orioles, who were in contention last season as well. What do you do?

According to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, the answer for the Blue Jays is to go after either Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana. Considering that Toronto has not replaced Josh Johnson, who left as a free agent after not having a Josh Johnson-kind of season north of the border, this is a fine idea, albeit with little indication of whether either free agent right-hander would actually go to Toronto.

This is the eternal problem for the Blue Jays, being stuck in the American League East. If you don’t develop your own talent, or if you trade it away, you’re going to be stuck overpaying for imports of any import because any ballplayer with functioning brain cells can see that Toronto is in a division with perennial powerhouses. The last couple of years have been an anomaly, first with the Red Sox enduring a transition season and then the Yankees, and while the Blue Jays made an admirable attempt to spend some money and take advantage of the opportunity, the result was a spectacular failure.

Toronto’s best bet is to utilize the Tampa Bay model, only with the ability to keep stars developed by the farm system. This is the approach that has given the Orioles a chance to compete the past two seasons as well. But having given up Henderson Alvarez, Travis d’Arnaud, Adeiny Hechavarria, Jake Marisnick, and Noah Syndergaard in trades last winter, the Blue Jays painted themselves into a corner of going for it with veterans developed elsewhere. It’s worthwhile, in that case, to go big in an effort to sign Jimenez or Santana, but unless the money outstrips what competitors offer, both pitchers should find a better situation elsewhere.

NELSON CRUZ: There remains far less buzz around the slugger than there was earlier in the winter, though Tony Paul of The Detroit News has started beating the Cruz-to-Tigers drum again.

Here’s the crux of the argument: “He could start mostly in left, plus spell (Torii) Hunter for the 20 or so days he needs off as he approaches 40. Or if (Nick) Castellanos struggles (at third base), Cruz could slot into DH, (Victor) Martinez could move to first base, (Miguel) Cabrera could slide back to third and (Andy) Dirks and speedy Rajai Davis could continue platooning in left. Right now, the Tigers have no contingency plan should Castellanos not live up to expectations.”

Getting Cabrera off third base was a major reason for the Tigers trading Prince Fielder to Texas. Moving the two-time reigning MVP back to the hot corner, a position that diminishes his value, should not be an option outside of an absolute emergency, one beyond “Castellanos struggles.” If you come to the conclusion that your third base prospect isn’t going to cut it, there are other infielders on the roster, and trades can be made. Sinking money and years into Cruz is not the option.

Cruz will get a job somewhere, because he can hit, but he remains an awful idea for teams with spacious outfields who would expect him to play the outfield. That would include the two teams whose names have come up in connection with Cruz most often this winter, Detroit and Seattle.